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Six young handlers represented the breed at the North Somerset show with calves from Devon and Cornwall as well as the locals from Somerset.

Brian and Sheila Adams purchased 4 bulling heifers at the Shalford dispersal sale to graze on their smallholding at Curry Rivel in Somerset, one of these produced a heifer calf Wiltown Jay and she was the first female to be registered with the Wiltown prefix.

She is now part of the Hurdlebrook herd of David and Rosie Paull at Babcary in Somerset and Brian and Sheila regularly prepare and take animals from Hurdlebrook to support the local and national shows.

The 150th show organised by the North Somerset Agricultural took place on 4th May at Wraxall, near Bristol.

The Guernseys with 24 females forward from 6 exhibitors were the most numerous of the dairy breeds, outnumbering the Jerseys by 8 to 1!

The show has for many years been supported by the Durbin/Sales and Parfitt families, and once again it was these two families with Bickfield and Graylands animals that provided the majority of the animals forward, but it was good to see Caroline and Emma Greenslade present with adult animals for the first time and to see the Adams’s, plus Norman & Mills supporting the Maiden heifer and Calf Handling Classes.

David Mann, from Zennor in Cornwall was the Judge and confirmed his growing reputation as a confident and accurate adjudicator, but he was I think surprised to start his day with 8 maiden heifers, most of whom were in the ring for the first time.

Cracker Noel Ex 90 was named as the leading individual production cow in the Dorset and Somerset Annual competitions, she is a daughter of Shalford Luxury and out of a Pedigree Jersey bred by Mrs Emma Crouch’s parents.

Noel is a sixth calver and has regularly given over 9000 litres and has a H85 three quarter bred daughter Cracker Noel 4 that has given over 7000 kg as a heifer.

At yesterdays AGM of the SWGA the results of the annual competitions that had been judged on farm last Autumn by David Crouch were announced and the trophies were presented.

21 herds took part, some for the first time, and included herds in Cornwall, Devon, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, Somerset and Wiltshire. David Crouch commented on the quality of the cattle seen and in particular the young stock.

These competitions are decided by a combination of inspection points and production points plus points for regular calving. The young stock are judged seperately and the points are added for the overall prizes. The herds are split into 3 sections according to herd size.

These 23 Young bulls have been registered with EGCS between August 07 and November 08 and will provide bulls for AI but also will be used as Natural Service sires. Ever since the launch of GGBP in 2001, one of the statistics calculated has been the percentage of daughters registered by Proven Sires, by Young Sires used in AI and Natural Service Sires.

The edition of this long running Radio 4 programme on 28th December 2008 featured Mike and Clare Cox from Kiln Farm Alderney. The programme relayed the background to their arrival on Alderney and the development of the business, into the provision of meat and milk products to the residents on Alderney and, a developing market for their yoghurt and butter to Guernsey, as well as their butter to England.

Quality Milk Producers (QMP) held their 53rd AGM, yesterday at Holmfirth in Yorkshire, at the Longley Farm Dairy premises of the Dickinson family. Longley Farm is the most successful business that utilises mainly Jersey milk in a full range of dairy products, but with the concentration on cream and the by-products of cream. There were approx 20 people present, two thirds of whom were producers; disappointingly there was only one Guernsey producer present. QMP were founded by both Guernsey and Jersey producers and control the Gold Top brands on behalf of both breeds.